Jennifer Lawrence’s personal bourbon in Kentucky, a dog surviving on skunks in California, and more

Montgomery

A local nonprofit is partnering with police to help the area’s needy during a March event at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex. HateLess Foundation founder Jarvis Provitt (above) says there’ll be free food, but people should expect to leave with a lot more than a full stomach. “We don’t just want to feed the homeless; we want to give people resources to leave with,” he says. From noon to 2 p.m. March 7, the Multiplex will be filled with experts able to help with everything from substance abuse problems to financial problems to veterans’ issues. There’ll even be a prayer area. People will be able to pick up hygiene bags with necessities. Once a prep star with St. Jude, the 24-year-old Provitt started HateLess after college to help out in the community. He’s now part of a team of about a dozen mostly young Montgomerians who work with a network of volunteers and partner with outside groups to pitch in where they can.

Anchorage

A recent study says steep tariff hikes could be on the way at the Port of Alaska if the Municipality of Anchorage has to pay for dock repairs. The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports the analysis, prepared by economic consulting firm Parrish, Blessing and Associates Inc., considers how much tariffs on refined petroleum products and cement would have to be raised to cover the cost of borrowing $200 million to replace the port’s petroleum and cement terminal. The port currently charges a tariff of 15.7 cents per barrel on petroleum products. The analysis says rates would need to rise by 45 percent per year until 2023, when they’d reach $1.01 per barrel. The $1.61-per-ton tariff for cement would increase 39 percent per year and hit $8.30 per ton in 2023.

Phoenix

State lawmakers who want to keep their get-out-of-jail-free cards might not have to worry after all. House Speaker Rusty Bowers (above) has blocked a measure that seeks to repeal a law preventing police from arresting lawmakers while the Legislature is in session. Bowers, R-Mesa, said the protection was put in Arizona’s Constitution to prevent lawmakers from being detained during votes. “It is a separation of powers issue,” he said. “That’s what it is, on purpose.” Gov. Doug Ducey and some lawmakers have said the privilege should be repealed in the wake of a public outcry after former Rep. Paul Mosley’s speeding scandal last year, when the Republican from Lake Havasu City bragged during a traffic stop about driving as fast as 140 mph and evoked his legislative immunity to avoid a ticket.

Little Rock

The state Senate has voted to name the Bowie knife Arkansas’ official knife. The Senate on Tuesday approved by a 34-0 vote a proposal that would name the Bowie the state knife. The measure now heads to the House for a vote. The bill by Republican Sen. Trent Garner says that the Bowie knife has played an important role in the state’s history and notes that it was known as early as 1835 as the “Arkansas Toothpick.” The measure refers to the Bowie knife as Arkansas’ most famous weapon. Garner has also sponsored another bill that names the shotgun as the official state firearm of Arkansas.

Paradise

A dog named Kingston is back with his family 101 days after he jumped out of their truck as they fled a devastating Northern California wildfire. The 12-year-old Akita was reunited Monday with the Ballejos family, who fled the town of Paradise late last year, Sacramento television station KXTV reports. “When I found out, (it) just about brought me to tears,” says Gabriel Ballejos, Kingston’s owner. “I’m so proud of him. I can’t believe it. He’s a true survivor, and it’s a testament to the American spirit.” The family got a call after animal rescue volunteer Ben Lepe trapped Kingston on Sunday and took him to Friends of Camp Fire Cats, a local rescue group. Family members believe Kingston survived by eating skunks because he hunted them before the fire and smelled of skunk when they picked him up.

Fort Collins

This town may not be e-scooter-free for much longer. The City Council approved rules Tuesday governing the use of the electronic riding devices, setting the stage for their introduction as soon as midsummer. Council will wait for an update to state law this legislative session before soliciting the various ride-sharing scooter companies for proposals on operating in the Choice City. The council approved two changes to code related to the scooters. One prohibits the use of conveyance devices – an intentionally broad term – from being used in the downtown dismount zone. The second seeks to minimize scattered scooters littering the city by specifying where they can be parked and requiring companies to take steps to prevent and handle the clutter.

Waterbury

The school district has acknowledged students have the right not to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance, as a result of a lawsuit by a teenage girl who says her teacher shamed her and other students for opting out. The Waterbury Board of Education and teacher agreed to settle the federal lawsuit, which was dismissed Feb. 9 as a result of the deal. The girl’s lawyer says officials agreed students don’t have to take part in the pledge and will pay her legal fees, which weren’t disclosed. The unidentified 14-year-old black student at Waterbury Arts Magnet School sued in October, citing First Amendment rights. She said she and her classmates remained seated during the pledge to protest racial discrimination.

Wilmington

Two backlashes – one upstate and another downstate – have erupted in the past year against a peculiar electoral practice that, in certain circumstances, grants large property owners multiple votes in city elections. Today, those backlashes have transformed into proposals to limit the voting power of property owners in Newark and Rehoboth Beach. The origin of the election practice in the former lies in Newark’s desire to grant nonresident property owners and businesses a say in referendums that propose tax increases. In recent years, as developers and landlords have transferred individual properties into separate LLCs, their voting power has grown.

Washington

Georgetown University has rescinded an honorary degree it bestowed in 2004 on then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked last week after being convicted by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians. Georgetown President John J. DeGioia said Tuesday that it is “the first time an honorary degree conferred by the university has been revoked.” DeGioia said Georgetown and other Roman Catholic and Jesuit institutions have been called on “to create a context in which the abuse of power can be identified and eliminated.” The 88-year-old McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., is the highest-ranking churchman and the first cardinal to be punished by dismissal from the clerical state, or laicization.

Miami

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he’s impressed with the city’s efforts to cope with rising sea levels – and he wishes President Donald Trump were paying attention, too. Ban (second from left above) visited Miami on Tuesday with the Global Commission on Adaptation, which encourages the development of measures to manage the effects of climate change through technology, planning and investment. He toured two city pump stations and viewed seawall projects from a boat with Mayor Francis Suarez (left). Ban said he was “deeply concerned” about Trump’s rollback of environmental protections and his dismissal of climate science. But he said he’s encouraged by the commitment of Miami and other U.S. cities to the Paris climate agreement, even though Trump wants the country to withdraw from it.

Atlanta

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says the city is no longer asking job applicants about pay history. News outlets report Bottoms banned the questions Monday in an effort to prevent wage discrimination and close the gender pay gap. The mayor says it’s an extension of “ban the box” measures, but over salaries instead of criminal history. Five years ago, Atlanta passed rules that no longer require people with convictions to disclose such information on applications. Bottoms says salary history can often trap employees in unfair earnings cycles based on the past rather than their skills. She says she hopes other cities and the state will follow her lead. News outlets cite research saying women earn roughly 80 cents for every dollar men do. The gap widens for women of color.

Honolulu

Transportation officials are assessing an unstable slope above a busy highway on Oahu after a landslide on the roadway sent three people to the hospital. The Pali Highway, which connects Honolulu and the east side of the island over a steep mountain range, was completely closed Tuesday. Portions of it will remain shut down all week after multiple landslides covered the roadway in two spots Monday, Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said. The Honolulu-bound lanes of the highway will remain closed until at least Monday, Sakahara said. He said there are several large boulders, some as big as a vehicle, that are still at risk of falling. Pieces of concrete from Old Pali Road, the original route from Honolulu to the windward side of Oahu, also came down.

Boise

Legislation to keep operating a state board that pays a federal agency to kill wolves that attack livestock and elk is on its way to Gov. Brad Little. The House voted 51-19 on Monday to approve the bill to repeal a section of state law that would end the five-year run of the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board. The legislation requested by the board has already passed the Senate. Backers say Idaho has too many wolves that are harming ranching and farming families by killing livestock. Those who opposed the bill suggested it include nonlethal methods of wolf control. The board has in the past received $400,000 annually from the state. Gov. Brad Little has asked the Legislature to approve $200,000 in general fund tax dollars for the board in fiscal year 2020.

Chicago

A federal judge has given the green light to a parks-advocacy group’s lawsuit that aims to stop for good the delayed construction of former President Barack Obama’s $500 million presidential center in a park beside Lake Michigan. Supporters of the project had hoped the court would grant a city motion to throw out the lawsuit by Protect Our Parks, some fearing any drawn-out litigation might lead Obama to decide to build the Obama Presidential Center somewhere other than his Midwest hometown. A suit brought by another group in 2016 helped to scuttle a $400 million plan by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas to build a museum on public land on Chicago’s lakefront. Judge John Robert Blakey’s ruling doesn’t mean the group will prevail but confirms that the suit poses a formidable threat to the project.

Indianapolis

The state Senate has removed sexual orientation, gender identity, race and a list of other characteristics from a hate crimes bill. The Republican-majority body voted Tuesday on amendments that would have allowed judges to impose additional penalties against anyone convicted of committing crimes fueled by those and other biases. The Senate voted to add that judges can consider bias, more generally, as an aggravating circumstance. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb (above) supported the original bill and said the version approved Tuesday “does not get Indiana off the list of states without a bias crime law.” Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming also do not have hate crime laws.

Iowa City

With the state’s first-in-the-nation status, Iowans take caucusing very seriously. But there’s something they take even more seriously – ranch. In an instantly iconic video, University of Iowa senior Hanna Kinney did the state proud by showing her love for the dressing Iowans drizzle on just about anything. When U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful stopped at the Airliner on Monday, Kinney was at the restaurant to help lead her weekly Bible study, eat some pizza and indulge in her born-and-bred love of homemade ranch. When her food arrived with no ranch in sight, she went downstairs, found a mob of people and slipped past Gillibrand saying, “Sorry, I’m just going to get some ranch.” Now Gillibrand is offering to buy Kinney a slice or two the next time she’s in the state. As for her newfound fame, she’s changed her Twitter display name to “Hanna Kinney (Ranch Girl).”

Hutchinson

The deadline is approaching for applications to grow the state’s new industrial hemp research crop. The Kansas Department of Agriculture will take applications for growers who want to be part of the state’s research program until March 1. The Hutchinson News reports state lawmakers created the research program last April. The federal government also has declassified industrial hemp as a controlled substance. State agriculture department spokeswoman Heather Lansdowne says Kansas law still allows only research on the crop. Previous to the federal farm bill, Kansas could only establish a research program for hemp growing in order to comply with federal laws. Now, the state is open to establishing commercial hemp growing if the legislature approves it.

Louisville

You could share a bottle of bourbon with hometown hero and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence – or at least own a bottle she’s autographed. The very special bottle of Woodford Reserve, poured from Lawrence’s own private barrel, will take center stage at the Louisville Film Society’s Oscar Watch Party silent auction Sunday at Copper & Kings American Brandy Company. Guests will get to sample custom Art Eatables truffles made from the same barrel of Lawrence’s bourbon. Additional star-worthy auction packages include a “Superfecta” package from Churchill Downs for VIP-style perks and four weekend passes to the 2019 Bourbon & Beyond festival plus a coveted bottle of W.L. Weller Special Reserve Bourbon. Tickets are $100, which includes a one-year $50 LFS membership, and can be purchased at louisvillefilmsociety.org.

White Castle

A hotel owner has purchased Nottoway Plantation, which has the South’s largest existing antebellum mansion. The New Orleans Advocate quotes the Iberville Parish Clerk of Court’s Office as saying that Joseph Jaeger Jr.’s Nottoway Plantation & Resorts LLC bought the White Castle property for $3.1 million and other valuable considerations in a deal that closed last week. Nottoway covers 31 acres and has 40 rooms, two restaurants and other amenities. Sugar cane planter John Hampden Randolph requested the plantation’s construction, and it was finished in 1859. The 53,000-square-foot mansion was designed in Greek Revival and Italianate style. Jaeger owns 16 New Orleans-area hotels.

Augusta

Juror pay in the state could more than triple under a new bill lawmakers are taking into consideration. The bill would raise pay for jurors in state courts from $15 per day to $50 per day. The Bangor Daily News reports the Legislature’s judiciary committee endorsed raising juror pay last week but is undecided on how large the increase should be, with some voting instead for a $10 increase to $25 per day. Sen. Paul Davis says the pay raise was proposed after people increasingly failed to show up for jury duty. If approved, the change would raise the judiciary’s annual budget from $500,000 to $1 million.

Annapolis

A measure to enable residents to select an unspecified gender on their driver’s licenses has advanced in the state Senate. Senators gave the measure preliminary approval Wednesday. The bill requires an application for a license to allow someone to identify as female, male or unspecified. If an applicant identifies as an unspecified sex, the Motor Vehicle Administration would have to ensure the license displays an “X” in the appropriate location. The measure prohibits the MVA from requiring an applicant to provide proof of gender or from denying an application because the sex selected by the applicant doesn’t match the sex displayed on another document associated with the applicant.

Pittsfield

A survivor of clergy sex abuse says he will stop eating until the Vatican acknowledges receipt of messages from several families of victims he was assured would be sent to Pope Francis. Olan Horne, one of the first survivors to go public about abuse in the Boston Archdiocese and a longtime advocate for families affected by abuse, told The Berkshire Eagle his hunger strike would start midnight Wednesday. A summit on abuse starts Thursday in Rome. The 59-year-old Chester man said last fall he gathered messages from Massachusetts families to send to Pope Francis (above). He delivered them to Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley and was told they would go to the pope. A Boston Archdiocese spokesman said the materials were delivered to the Holy See as promised.

Detroit

Officials say Cobo Center will change its name, removing the surname of a former mayor known for his racist policies. The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority announced Wednesday that it has sold Cobo Center’s naming rights to Detroit-based Chemical Bank in a 22-year deal that will generate $1.5 million annually. The new name will be announced later this year, after Chemical Bank’s holding company acquires another financial institution. Authority Chairman Larry Alexander says he sees the move as “killing two birds with one stone” – saving taxpayers’ money while removing “negative history and connotation.” Albert Cobo, who was mayor from 1950 to 1957, sought to keep blacks out of predominantly white neighborhoods. The downtown center opened in 1960.

St. Paul

Gov. Tim Walz proposed a $49 billion “Budget for One Minnesota” on Tuesday that raises the state gas tax 20 cents to pay for road and bridge improvements and includes significant increases in spending on education. In his first budget proposal, the Democratic governor called for $733 million in new spending on pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education over the next two years. That includes a $523 million boost in state aid for school districts by increasing the basic per-pupil funding formula by 5 percent over two years. Walz faces GOP opposition, especially in the Senate where Republicans have a three-vote majority. Republican leaders said they oppose the plan, which comes amid a $1.5 billion budget surplus, though that’s expected to shrink a bit in the next revenue forecast later this month.

Jackson

A Mississippi National Guard unit is coming home from a deployment to the Middle East, with the first 300 members of the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team returning to Mississippi on Monday after leaving last April. More than 4,000 guard members deployed to Kuwait to deter and react to threats as part of Operation Spartan Shield, the unit’s third deployment to the Middle East since 2001. Hundreds of family members and friends came out Monday night to the guard’s air base at the Jackson airport to meet the first two flights home, carrying gifts, balloons and signs. It takes about 14 days for soldiers to go through demobilization, and all the unit’s soldiers are expected to be home by late March.

Springfield

Big Brothers Big Sisters has announced that a cellophane-wrapped marijuana brick with a street value of $3,000 has been found in a donation bin. The discovery was made last May as volunteers sorted through donations, but it only became public this month when the charity’s Ozark office highlighted it in its monthly bulletin. Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Think Big Foundation president Tyler Moles says it’s “the most expensive thing ever put in the bin.” He says the charity initially hesitated to disclose the find, but donations of adult and children’s clothes and shoes are down during the cold winter months, so he’s hoping the publicity can serve as a reminder that the charity is collecting those items. No arrests have been made.

Great Falls

Some members of the state Legislature are working on a bill taking the bold stand of opposing the sale of Montana to Canada. A petition on Change.org that proposes selling Big Sky Country to the United States’ neighbor to the north for $1 trillion has more than 11,000 signers. The House State Administration Committee voted 15-5 on Tuesday to have staff draft a House resolution generally opposing the sale of the state to the maple-loving nation. Committee Chairman Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus, proposed the resolution as a “bit of fun” around the time the House will be wrestling with the big budget bill. He’s envisioning “whereas” statements along the lines of “Whereas we don’t know the Canadian national anthem after the first two words ... ”

Lincoln

Police accuse a University of Nebraska-Lincoln assistant professor of defacing campaign signs for U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry last fall. Patricia Wonch Hill has been cited for three counts of misdemeanor vandalism. She didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking a response. Police say fingerprints from Wonch Hill were found on stickers used to vandalize Fortenberry campaign signs in Lincoln last October. The vandalism included giving his picture big, googly eyes. One of the signs was also defaced with a strip of tape that turned his name into a flatulence reference. The Republican won his eighth term the next month. Police Sgt. Angela Sands said the damage to property – estimated at $100 – went beyond free speech.

Reno

Out of all 5,500 pieces in the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art, the three-horned rhinoceros is director Paul Baker Prindle’s favorite. The ancient piece, described as a mythical beast, is part of the state-of-the-art, high-tech museum inside the University of Nevada, Reno’s new University Arts Building, which opens Friday. The three-story building – which also has a recital hall, labs and rehearsal spaces – is connected to the Church Fine Arts building through a sky bridge. Prindle says you can see the artist’s fingerprints where the Chinese figurine of a rhino had to be hollowed out. UNR plans to have a naming contest for the piece that has become almost a mascot for the museum. “To know those fingerprints are over 1,000 years old and are in Reno, Nevada, that is cool,” he says.

Concord

The state’s Cold Case Unit says it’s solved its oldest crime, the 52-year-old shooting death of an auto repair shop worker, and says the man who did it killed himself years later. In September 1966, 49-year-old Everett Delano was shot three times in the head while working at Sanborn’s Garage in Andover. The case stalled after numerous interviews and an investigation. The unit reopened the Delano case in 2013 after being contacted by a member of his family. Investigators discovered that fingerprints from the scene hadn’t been entered into an FBI database, which wasn’t fully operational in 1966. The prints led to Thomas Cass, 67, of Orleans, Vermont, who denied any knowledge of the case in 2014 but shot himself after police executed a search warrant at his home.

Asbury Park

What are the makings of a hip-hop musician from Asbury Park? Rodney Coursey, founder of music promotional company Garden State Hip-Hop, knows. He’s the producer of the upcoming New Jersey Live 3 hip-hop show Friday at the House of Independents. “The artists that come from the West Side (of Asbury Park), it’s a balance of trap (beats) and those classic ’90s hip-hop elements,” he says. “From a lyrical standpoint, there’s a heavy dose of reality.” Coursey says those in the city’s scene are “not glorifying inner-city life or life on the West Side, but they’re telling you their stories and the world they grew up with.” More than 15 performers will be on stage at House of Independents, including Bulletproof Belv, Black Suburbia Group and Chris Rockwell.

Taos

This year’s U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will be coming from northern New Mexico. U.S. Forest Service officials announced Tuesday that a tree will be cut from the Carson National Forest (above) just outside Taos. The chosen tree will be displayed on the Capitol’s west lawn next December. The state will also send along 70 smaller companion trees to adorn other government buildings in Washington. Forest rangers say communities across New Mexico will be invited to help hand-make ornaments for the tree throughout the year. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says it is an honor for the state to be represented in this way.

Albany

The governor doesn’t want state police to routinely release mug shots of criminal suspects or booking records about exactly what they’re being arrested for. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal is the latest by states aimed at curtailing the so-called internet shaming industry – websites that claim to be able to remove embarrassing information such as booking mug shots from the web for a fee. Under Cuomo’s proposal, unless there is a compelling law enforcement reason to do so, the public release of booking mugs and arrest information would be refused as “an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Journalists and some civil libertarians are opposed to such measures, calling them an infringement on the public’s right to know what the government is doing.

Asheville

Local drag queens plan to don some of their sparkliest attire in an effort to fight homelessness. Asheville Drag Brunch, a group that raises money for charities, will host its first Local Celebrity Drag Brunch on March 10 at Bebette’s Cafe, the group says. Tickets for the event, which includes brunch and the show, are $20, with 80 percent of profits benefiting the homeless aid group BeLoved Asheville (above). Portions of tips to performers will also go to BeLoved. Performers are professional celebrity drag queens Ida Carolina, Katarina Eclipse and Ginger Von Snap, the release says. The show is billed as “family-friendly entertainment” and “top-notch fun.” “Drag is an essential pillar of the LGBTQ community’s history and culture,” says performer Divine, “Asheville’s Bearded Lady.”

Bismarck

The state House has killed a bill that would make Central time the state’s official time zone. The measure failed 81-11 on Wednesday. A dozen of North Dakota’s 53 counties, all of them west of the Missouri River, are either partially or wholly within the Mountain time zone. In North Dakota, many refer to Central time as “fast time.” Central time is one hour ahead of Mountain. The idea of one time zone has been proposed in the Legislature several times over the years but has never gotten needed support.

Cincinnati

Have you ever wanted a beer that tastes like Cincinnati chili? Now’s your chance. Taft’s Brewing Company is teaming up with Gold Star Chili for National Chili Day next Thursday. A limited batch Gold Star Chili-inspired beer, Cincy Chili Porter will be available for tasting at Taft’s Brewpourium on Feb. 28 starting at 5 p.m. “Modeled after our Maverick Chocolate Porter, we’ve added some classic local chili flavors like cinnamon and dried chilies,” the brewery says. Taft’s will also be making specialty Gold Star Chili New Haven-style pizzas and loaded tater tots for the event. A percentage of proceeds from the event will go to Freestore Foodbank. And the first 25 people to walk in the door at 5 p.m. will get a gift basket from Taft’s and Gold Star.

Tulsa

Authorities say a man stole a Pepsi truck as the driver was unloading soda in the back. Tulsa police say no one was hurt, but the driver jumped out of the back when he felt his rig move. A trail of sodas spilled out as the truck drove off. Police say Steven Hart told them he was trying to get to the airport after an argument with his girlfriend. The girlfriend says he was searching for her. Police say when they caught up to the truck stopped in traffic, Hart jumped out and started to run off. Hart was arrested as the rig rolled into the back of a school bus. No children were aboard. Hart is being held on pending charges that include larceny and attempted escape from the county jail as he was being booked into custody.

Salem

A major public lands package that would create a new wilderness area in the state, protect 250 miles of state waterways and safeguard a small community from wildfire passed the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. The bipartisan package of about 120 different bills now heads to the U.S. House for consideration before potentially coming to the desk of President Donald Trump. The legislation passed easily on a 92-8 vote. It’s unclear whether the package will survive, but multiple lawmakers have expressed optimism. The most notable legislation for the state is a scaled-down version of Sen. Ron Wyden’s Oregon Wildlands Act. The bill would create the 30,000-acre Devil’s Staircase Wilderness, applying the highest form of environmental protection to a remote patch of old-growth forest.

Pittsburgh

Officials say air travelers in the area can look forward to faster departures and lots of space to greet loved ones when they return home thanks to a planned $1.1 billion renovation. The Pittsburgh International Airport revamp design was unveiled Wednesday by the Allegheny County Airport Authority. The new two-level facility scheduled to open in 2023 will be financed with revenue bonds from airlines, concessions and parking, as well as natural gas drilling. The design featuring a rolling roof to resemble the city’s rolling hills was primarily created by award-winning architect Luis Vidal, who designed Heathrow Airport T2 in London. Other features are aimed at improving flow through security and shortening travel times to departure gates.

West Warwick

The state has marked the 16th anniversary Wednesday of a nightclub fire that killed 100 people and injured more than 200. The Feb. 20, 2003, fire was started when pyrotechnics for the rock band Great White ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the walls of The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The fire quickly spread through the overcrowded club, and many people became trapped and died or were severely burned. The site of the fire is now a memorial park. Although no formal service was planned, several people showed up Wednesday to pay their respects. Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele, who set off the pyrotechnics, reached plea deals on involuntary manslaughter charges. Biechele and Michael Derderian served prison time.

Columbia

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is visiting an area known as the “Corridor of Shame” due to its underperforming schools. DeVos (above) plans to travel Thursday to Florence County, one of several dozen districts along Interstate 95 once bestowed the nickname “Corridor of Shame” for their substandard schools. Along with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Mitchell Zais – who headed up South Carolina’s schools from 2011 to 2015 – Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, DeVos will visit Timmonsville Educational Center, as well as the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing & Technology, which focuses on matching up workforce training programs with local industry needs. They’ll also be joined by U.S. Rep. Tom Rice.

Pierre

State lawmakers have voted in favor of allowing 16-year-olds to drop out of school. The House Education Committee spent nearly an hour debating HB 1232, which would lower the compulsory attendance age from 18 to 16. The measure passed on an 8-6 vote and moves now to the House floor. Advocates of the proposal say the current law puts an undue burden on schools to keep track of kids who don’t want to be in class, while opponents argue the bill could be seen as the state giving up on certain students. South Dakota had a compulsory attendance age of 16 until 2009. Bill sponsor Rep. Lana Greenfield, R-Doland, argued it’s time to move the age back and said keeping track of truant students takes attention away from kids who are in school to learn.

Memphis

The owner of the house in South Memphis where Aretha Franklin was born was given another 60 days Tuesday to provide the Environmental Court with a plan to stabilize the property and remove it from court oversight. That plan will allow owner Vera Lee House (above) to return as a resident, her attorney, Marty Regan, told Environmental Court Judge Patrick Dandridge. Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was born in the cottage in 1942. She left Memphis as a young child and died in August in Detroit. The house is now owned by House, who raised 12 children in the two-bedroom structure. Over the years, the house fell into disrepair and was nearly demolished. The case returns to court April 23.

Austin

A warehouse fire has wiped out one-fifth of the city’s pedicabs just weeks before the annual South by Southwest festival, one of the busiest times for bicycle rickshaw operators, city officials say. Two companies, Metrocycle Pedicabs and Pedicab Adventures, lost up to 100 pedicabs in the fire early Tuesday, according to the Austin Fire Department. Fire officials said an electrical short circuit started the blaze that ripped through the warehouse and caused about $400,000 in damages. No one was reported injured, and the department ruled the fire accidental, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The companies declined to comment on the fire or the impact it could have on business leading up to the weeklong music, movie and tech festival that starts March 8.

Salt Lake City

State lawmakers pressed pause Wednesday on two gun measures, including a proposal inspired by the shooting death of University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey. The plan to hold gun owners civilly liable if they lend out a firearm used in a crime stalled out after hitting opposition from gun-rights advocates. Two other voluntary gun-safety proposals supported by the gun groups like the National Rifle Association were approved by a panel and sent to the full House of Representatives. Democratic sponsor Rep. Andrew Stoddard (above) says he wants to keep working on “Lauren’s Law” and bring it back. McCluskey’s ex-boyfriend killed her after she broke up with him. Melvin Rowland, who later killed himself, got the gun by telling a friend he wanted to teach his girlfriend how to shoot, police say.

Montpelier

A bill has been proposed in the state House to make sure health care providers follow guidelines for prescribing opioid pain medications to reduce the risk of a patient becoming addicted. A lead sponsor, Rep. Cynthia Browning, says the bill is an attempt to put into statute the current best practices of medical practitioners regarding opioid prescriptions. Browning says the bill also provides for right of action if a medical provider doesn’t follow the best practices and a patient becomes addicted, meaning a patient could sue for damages. Some in the medical community have concerns about transforming prescription guidelines into law and specifying the right of patients to sue for damages.

Union Hill

Former Vice President Al Gore is urging residents of a historic African-American community to continue their fight against a plan to build a natural gas pipeline compressor station in their neighborhood. Gore (above center) and social justice advocate the Rev. William Barber II (above left) met Tuesday with residents of Union Hill, a rural community founded by emancipated slaves after the Civil War. Gore told those assembled that the proposal to build the compressor station in the African-American community is a “vivid example of environmental racism” and said Gov. Ralph Northam, rocked in recent weeks by a blackface scandal, should fulfill his promise for racial reconciliation by opposing the pipeline project. “This is an ideal opportunity for him to say, ‘I’ve seen the light,’ ” Gore said.

Sunnyside

Officials say the more than 1,800 dairy cows that died in a blizzard in southern Washington state earlier this month were a nearly $4 million loss, not including the lost milk production. Farm Service Agency program specialist Gerri Richter tells the Capital Press that seven dairy farms have given notices of loss to the agency’s office in Yakima, and more are expected to report soon. The dairy producers must give notice within 30 days to prepare to apply for the agency’s Livestock Indemnity Program, which pays out at 75 percent of market value. Steve George, an issues manager for the state dairy federation, says up to 15 farms near Sunnyside lost cows, with one dairy reported to have lost about 600 cows in the Feb. 9 storm.

Charleston

The House of Delegates has agreed with a Senate amendment that will allow retail outlets to sell liquor on Sundays except when Christmas or Easter falls on that day of the week. The House previously passed the bill and approved it with the Christmas-Easter amendment added on an 86-12 vote Tuesday without debate. The bill, which permits liquor sales after 1 p.m. on Sundays, now goes to Gov. Jim Justice’s desk.

Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Children’s Choir is honoring African-American composers in a concert Saturday at St. Sebastian Parish. Lynn Swanson, the choir’s executive artistic director, said it’s important to showcase how the classical, orchestral and choral genres have been beneficiaries of African-American talent, such as Florence Price, who became the first nationally famous African-American female composer of the 1930s and whose works have been compared to Dvorak and Strauss. And William Grant Still, composer of the 1931 “Afro-American Symphony,” was the first African-American to conduct a symphony orchestra in the U.S. But although they gained widespread national recognition for those firsts, many of their musical compositions have gone unheard.

Cheyenne

People who collect antlers and horns shed by big-game animals could have to comply with new rules under a measure close to passing the Wyoming Legislature. Right now, the state prohibits antler collecting west of the Continental Divide each Jan. 1-May 1. The state Senate passed a bill 19-11 on Wednesday that would allow the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to set new rules for antler collecting west of Interstates 90 and 25, a much larger area. The bill heads back to the House for a vote on changes made by the Senate. Wyoming first adopted antler collection rules a decade ago amid concern that antler collectors were spooking wildlife during springtime. Such disturbances can be deadly for animals weakened after months of winter.